China crackdown widens: Outspoken artist feared detained

April 4, 2011 4:11 PM ET

New York, April 4,
2011--The disappearance of internationally renowned artist and commentator
Ai Weiwei is a disturbing indicator of the extent of the government's onslaught
against its critics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Ai was stopped in Beijing
airport while preparing to board a flight to Hong Kong
on Sunday and has not been heard from since, according to international news
reports. City police raided his home and studio later that day, questioned his
wife and assistants, and confiscated computers, the reports said.

The reason for his apparent detention was not clear, but Ai
is among the most prominent of China's government critics, and commented
frequently on injustice, including detentions of fellow dissidents, on his
widely followed Twitter page. An unusually high number of activists, bloggers,
online journalists, and writers have disappeared or been detained since
February, when unsigned calls for anti-government protests in China, inspired
by revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, appeared online. Ai's fame
as an internationally recognized artist who helped design the Olympic Bird's
Nest stadium, and the son of a renowned Chinese poet, led many to believe he
was less at risk of government reprisal.

Chinese-language discussions of Ai were quickly deleted from
the Internet, international news reports said. Internet censorship has also tightened
in recent weeks.

"Ai Weiwei has long been a source of information and opinion
that challenged the status quo in China," said Bob
Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. "His disappearance is a
deeply concerning sign that official tolerance for dissent in China has reached
a low point."

Despite his stature, Ai has not been immune from harassment.
His studio was destroyed in January, international news reports said. Police
beat him in 2009 to prevent him from testifying at imprisoned journalist Tan
Zuoren's trial. He and Tan documented the names of children killed as
poorly constructed school buildings collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan
earthquake. Ai also made a film
of his efforts to secure the release of an assistant who had been
detained.

Some of the recent disappearances have already resulted in
heavy penalties. Liu
Xianbin, a democracy activist who wrote online articles, was sentenced to 10
years in prison for inciting subversion against the state in March. Well-known
blogger Ran Yunfei has been indicted
on the same charge.

In one recent more positive outcome, missing writer Yang
Hengjun reappeared in Hong Kong after his disappearance. He denied having
been in custody and said he had been in the hospital, although many supporters
believe this to be a euphemism for secret detention. "I am so grateful for the
outside media's support, but I ask that they understand that I can't keep
having media attention and continue my pursuit of democracy in China," he told Australian
newspaper The
Age.

Yang commented on the Chinese media's silence about his
case: "Lots of Chinese journalists who are my great friends asked after me and
did everything they could for me, but I could not help thinking that not
one of them had asked any questions as journalists," he told the newspaper."When everyone thought I had been
kidnapped, they all assumed it was by the government--doesn't that tell you
something?--and the Chinese media knew they should not even ask."

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